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Gina Lopez burst into a rendition of R Kelly’s I Believe I Can Fly after her appointment was rejected

Many of the mines then resumed and Gina Lopez later referred to her time in the post as “painful”.

“I really do sincerely hope something can be done about the destruction that mining brings on,” she said in a Facebook post in July, while in the grip of what she referred to as a “health crisis”.

She died from multiple organ failure but the cause of this has not been confirmed.

According to Senator Bam Aquino, a Filipino politician and social entrepreneur, Gina Lopez “created generations of environmental warriors and inspired Filipinos to unite for a common cause”.

Gina Lopez was the second of seven children and her family founded the broadcasting cooperation ABS-CBN before it was captured by the military under the rule of the dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, in the 1970s.

As a teenager, Gina Lopez left the Philippines to study in the United States, before working as a yoga missionary in Portugal, India and Africa.

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The former environment secretary launched a reforestation programme in the Philippines

“It is in Africa that I learned the quality of persistence,” she added. “Hardship has its value.”

“At an age when people are just figuring out what they want to do in life, she already knew her purpose,” said her cousin Mark Lopez, chairman of ABS-CBN. “She left a comfortable life to devote her time and energy to help uplift other people’s lives.”

Gina Lopez also campaigned against child abuse, setting up a rescue hotline for children in Asia.

“We will miss Gina’s light, as a private person, as a leader, and as a crusader,” Mark Lopez added.

“While she left us a void that cannot be filled, we take comfort in knowing that with love, like she had shown us, there remains hope and beauty in the world we live in.”

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Media captionIn 2014, Gina Lopez led a clean-up effort in the Philippines capital of Manila